Sino-French ties back on track

Hu will visit France in fall; leaders hold talks on Iran, financial reform.

China and France on Wednesday pledged to draw a line under past tensions and breathe new life into their relationship by working together on issues from Iran to global monetary policy.

1:  tie是一个意义丰满的词，做动词时，理解为“系（jì）、打结、打成平局”，可以引申为“关系、约束”，还有对应的名词含义。相关热点短语：break (all) ties with…，表示“与……断绝关系”。

它有几个比较有趣的短语，大家可以了解hit the ties= count the ties， 指的是沿铁轨徒步旅行；还有fit to be tied在口语中表示为“十分恼火”

例1:  The two nations are tied by common interests.共同的利益使两国联系在一起。

例2:  The weather tied us to the house.天气不好使我们无法外出。

例3:  The game resulted in tie.比赛结果不分胜负。

2:  hold talks on表示“就……展开谈话”，比较好理解，不赘述。

3:  pledge to do sth表示允诺/承诺做……，需要注意的是pledge这个词还有典当、抵押、保证的意思，看几个例句：

例1:  He pledged his gold watch to pay for her birthday gift.为给她买生日礼物他抵押了他的金表。

例2:  The government pledged to rehouse the refugees.政府允诺重新给难民安排住房。

例3:  In 1954, President Eisenhower signed an order adding the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.1954年，艾森豪威尔总统签订了一份命令，在效忠誓词中加上“上帝庇佑下的”几个词。

4:  draw a line这里表示划清界线、到此为止。

5:  breathe new life表示给予生气, 给予活力, 赋与生机，看一个例句：

例1:  Was this the man to breathe new life into a company on the brink? 这样一位总裁能够给处于生存边缘的公司注入新的希望吗？

6:  work together on issues from… to…，这个句子，可以积累，中高口可用到。

In a joint appearance(共同露面)before the media(在媒体面前，注意before)after their talks, President Hu Jintao said his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy's second state visit to China had "opened a new page" in bilateral relations.

Hu also said he will visit France in the autumn, indicating Sino-French relations are back on track(重回正轨).

It is Sarkozy''s first visit to China since bilateral relations hit a trough in 2008 when the Olympic torch relay was disrupted in Paris and Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama.

1:  trough表示水槽、低谷期、低气压，hit a trough这里表示将至低谷，我们再看一个例句：

例1：That is a reason loan growth at the nation's commercial banks tends not to rebound until several months after recessions hit their trough.正是由于这个原因，往往是经济衰退的最严重时刻过去好几个月后，美国商业银行的贷款增速才开始反弹。

Hu is reported to have told Sarkozy during their meeting that "we should hold close consultations and strengthen political coordination on(此处注意中高口的积累)the reform. of the international monetary system, climate change and other major issues".

Sarkozy pledged France will work with China - which has sought greater say(此处，say做名词，表示发言权，说话的机会等，知道这个意思后，这句话也不难理解了，点击查看王思超老师相关阅读) for developing countries in world financial affairs - for a new multi-polar system when it assumes the rotating leadership of the G20 from November.

"We are going to prepare the French presidency of the G20 well in advance by thinking about a new multi-polar monetary order," he told reporters.

Iran''s nuclear program was also high on the agenda(日程重点，注意积累) at the leaders'' meeting.

Sarkozy stressed the urgency of ongoing efforts to curb(阻止、抑制)Teheran''s nuclear program, saying new sanctions must be imposed if negotiations fail.

"China hopes to use dialogue. France completely understands China, and we are willing to discuss this problem together at an appropriate time," Sarkozy said.

"If dialogue does not work, then we can only use sanctions."

Three of the five UN Security Council permanent members -- France, Britain and the US -- have been pressing for a fourth round of UN penalties on Iran for its refusal to halt(停止) a key part of its nuclear program that could be used to make weapons. Iran says it only wants the technology to produce nuclear power.

Hu did not comment on Iran.

China is open to further discussions with major Western powers(上期提起过，力量，指代国家) on how to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue, Hu said when meeting US President Barack Obama in Washington earlier this month.

This April marks a new beginning for Sino-French ties, Le Figaro, a leading daily newspaper in France, said while commenting on Sarkozy's China visit.

Before his departure, the French president told Xinhua News Agency some misunderstanding between the two countries were bygones

1:  bygones表示往事。谚语Let bygones be bygones，表示过去的事让它过去吧。或：既往不咎，捐弃前嫌

Sarkozy is the first state leader to come to China for Friday's opening ceremony of the World Expo in Shanghai. Accompanied by wife Carla Bruni, he first stopped in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, and spent the morning visiting the terracotta warriors.

The couple are scheduled to visit the Great Wall, and Bruni will also tour Beijing's hutong.

Calling the delegation's itinerary "inspiring", Fang Lexian, a professor of European politics at Renmin University of China, said "it's a good way to learn how Chinese history and societies have influenced our personality and way of thinking".

"Sino-French relations are getting back on track," Fang said, noting it's "hard to tell" if sensitive issues "challenging mutual understanding" will crop up in the future.

Zhou Hong, director of the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said problems "still exist" between the two countries.

While France hopes to benefit from the rise of China's economic growth, the fact that Chinese manufacturers are increasingly developing and selling their own technology has made the market tougher for French planes and power plants, Reuters reported.

During his first state visit to China in late 2007, Sarkozy struck deals for two nuclear reactors and 160 Airbus planes.

No deal was announced on Wednesday even though Sarkozy's entourage included senior representatives of the top 20 French transnational firms.

The two leaders agreed both countries would have "practical cooperation" in the nuclear, aviation, environment protection, energy and agriculture sectors.

"One of the big questions of this trip is to find out whether France can resume its big-contract diplomacy," said Francois Godement, a China specialist at the Institute of Political Science in Paris.

"How many trains are we going to sell to China, when it is selling its own high-speed trains as far afield as California and Saudi Arabia?" he told Reuters.